This disclosure generally relates to a biological fluid processing system and method thereof. More specifically, this disclosure relates to a system and method for a therapeutic fluid exchange procedure that exchanges at least one constituent component, such as a blood component, withdrawn from a patient with one or more replacement fluids that are infused to the patient.
Blood processing systems and methods that relate to a therapeutic exchange procedure typically involves withdrawal of a biological fluid, such as whole blood, from a patient and replacement with another fluid. The biological fluid, such as whole blood, withdrawn from the patient may be directed to a separator, such as a centrifugal or membrane assembly, for separation of at least one constituent component, such as at least one blood component or, for example, red blood cells, plasma and/or platelets. Depending on the procedure, certain separated constituent components may be retained by the system and not returned to the patient. The remaining separated constituent components may be returned to the patient together with one or more replacement fluids. The particular separated constituent that is not returned to the donor may depend on the specific medical needs of the patient. For example, one type of therapeutic exchange procedure is a plasma exchange procedure that removes a quantity of separated plasma from withdrawn whole blood of a patient and returns to the patient at least one replacement fluid, such as fresh plasma or other fluid, along with the remaining separated blood components.
In therapeutic exchange procedures, however current systems may lack the desired consistency to maintain a desired fluid balance, and inaccuracies may lead to a fluid balance drift within the patient such that the patient receives either too much or too little replaced fluid, which can be of concern for any patient, but particularly, pediatric patients, who may require maintaining a fluid balance within a desired range. Thus, there is a continuing need to provide a system and/or method that provides control of the fluid balance of a patient and/or the fluid flow relative to such patient during and/or after a therapeutic exchange procedure, or for other use in applications in other fields.